Spinach E. coli lawsuit settled
The Associated Press broke the story yesterday that a Wisconsin family's E. coli lawsuit - one stemming from the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak - had been resolved without going to trial. Dinesh Ramde, AP business writer, wrote:The agreement was reached in October but not filed in federal court until last week. It still needs approval from a federal judge, which Marler said he is confident will happen.On September 14, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a nationwide E. coli outbreak had been associated with the consumption of bagged baby spinach. For fear of E. coli contamination, all bagged spinach was recalled nationwide, and on September 19, 2006, FDA announced that all spinach implicated in the outbreak had been traced back to Natural Selection Foods, a company located in California’s Salinas Valley.
The national outbreak in September 2006 was traced to tainted spinach produced by Natural Selection Foods LLC. Three people died, including 77-year-old Marion Graff of Manitowoc.
Of the 204 people sickened by the tainted greens, Marler said about 100 have brought a lawsuit. His firm is handling 83 cases and has resolved 51 within the past few months.
FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 204 E. coli illnesses associated with the spinach E. coli outbreak, including thirty-one cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, 104 hospitalizations, and three deaths. Victims of the E. coli outbreak were identified in 26 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Wisconsin was the state hardest-hit in the outbreak, with 49 confirmed cases of E. coli. Canada reported one confirmed case.
A joint trace back by FDA and the State of California revealed that four spinach fields were the possible source of the E. coli contamination. The outbreak strain of E. coli was isolated from cattle fields nearby the implicated spinach fields, as well as from a wild boar that was killed in one of the fields.
Federal prosecutors have decided against charging companies involved in the September 2006
Marler Clark client Elizabeth Armstrong testified in front of the US House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in regards to food safety.
As California spinach producers began harvesting their crops this week, legislators, consumers, and health officials discussed the possibility of another
Dateline NBC reported on fresh food contamination, with emphasis on fresh spinach and lettuce grown in California, and whether irradiation is the answer to ensuring our fresh produce is safe.
The California Department of Health Services and the FDA have released their final report on the spinach E. coli outbreak.
The addition of $25 million of funding for spinach farmers who lost revenue during last year's spinach recall is affecting those victims of the
CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews interviewed Marler Clark client Lisa Brott, who became ill with an
In the wake of
Investigators for the FDA and CDC have indicated that the
Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, she asserts that the latest
Right on the heels of the nationwide